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Creek Heritage
Lifestyles and Customs

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation is located in Creek, Hughes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Rogers, Seminole, Tulsa, and Wagoner counties counties. The capital of the Creek Nation is in Okmulgee. They have a tribal enrollment of approximately 30,000 and own 5,943 acres of land. The tribe is federally recognized. The Muscogee Nation was organized under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936. They operate under a constitution and are governed by a principal chief, second chief, and a national council. The principal chief and second chief are elected every four years and the council representatives every two years. The Muscogee were named "Creek" by the English because they were settled along the fertile creeks and streams in Alabama and Georgia. The Musogee were agriculturalists and traders. They had formed the Creek Confederacy to resist attack from the northern tribes. In the early 1800's, they were removed to Indian Territory and have re-established their tribal government. There are four main groups of Muscogee in Oklahoma: the Creek Nation, the Alabama Quassarte Tribal Town, The Kialegee Tribal Town, and the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town. Most of the towns, churches, and cermonial grounds were re-established and renamed after their original places in Georgia and Alabama. The Creek belong to the Muskogean linguistic family.

Legends

There are several classes of myths among the Creeks. The first, origin of the earth, is related to the animal spirits. The other class had to do with a time when the Master-of-Breath took charge. The Creeks believed that they were made from the red earth of the old Creek Nation. The white man, they believed, was made from the foam of the sea. The majority of the tales refer to animals on the earth.